Showing posts with label Hail Caesar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hail Caesar. Show all posts

Friday, July 18, 2025

Italian Wars: Spanish Units

 So almost a year ago I thought I had wrapped up my Holy Roman Empire army for the late medieval/early renaissance era. But as with a lot of gamers, new toys catch your eye and you find an excuse to add to your army.  For me, I was standardizing the storage boxes for this army from the mishmash I had, and now found myself with additional space in the new box that had to be filled with something.  Finding a few packs of Artizan Spanish on clearance at my local store, I thought they would make a nice addition to the army.  Of course a few packs don't add much, so I ordered two boxes of the Wargames Atlantic conquistadors to fill everything else.


First up is a command stand. Though I know Spain converted over to the Cross of Burgundy banner early in the wars, visually I don't find it very appealing and decided to use the earlier flag. Trying to paint the details in on a flag that size was beyond my aging eyes, so I just used a printed version. The commander and drummer are Wargames Atlantic plastics with a metal Artizan figure holding the banner. I think the two manufactures' figures are very similar in height and heft, so they are very easy to blend together.

28mm Wargames Atlantic Spanish Conquistador and Artizan Designs Spanish Renaissance command miniatures for the Italian Wars era

Spanish sword and bucklermen from Artizan Designs. For the heart shaped shields, you either had to fit them with the wide edge towards the hands or shoulder; I wasn't sure which would be more proper, but guessed hands.  Hopefully I got it right.

28mm Artizan Designs Spanish Renaissance sword and bucklermen miniatures for the Italian Wars era

Crossbowmen from the Kingdom of León. These were made form Wargames Atlantic figures with spare pavises from Old Glory. Frustratingly, the WA kit doesn't really include enough crossbow quivers for all the figures; because I wanted more firing/preparing to fire figures rather than loading (the loading hand is sculpted attached to the quiver), I ran short by one, even using two boxes of the kit. And if you go with the arquebus handgun option instead, there are no ammo pouches included at all.  My other major complaint about the kit is that the paired arms aren’t numbered (and they aren’t always close to one another), so it was a bit of an annoying guessing game during assembly. Definitely a poor design choice by WA.

28mm Wargames Atlantic Spanish Conquistador  crossbowmen miniatures with Old Glory pavises for the Italian Wars era

Pikemen. The majority of the figures are WA, with a few Artizan thrown in. As with most of my army units, I made the artistic decision to use a unifying color palate for the unit based on the banner they carry. The WA pike are very short (approximately 50mm) compared to other manufactures, which is a bit disappointing visually.  Again, I'm not sure why WA made that decision.  One thing I will get WA credit for is the wide variety of head options available. I chose to avoid the morion helmets to give the unit an earlier feel, and I still managed to get quiet a bit of diversity of out of what remained.

28mm Wargames Atlantic Spanish Conquistador and Artizan Designs Spanish Renaissance pikemen miniatures for the Italian Wars era

Despite the shortcomings of the Wargames Atlantic kit mentioned above, I think they are a good value for the money and overall I'm happy the assembled figures. Throwing in the Artizan Design figures also gives you a bit of additional variability that only improves to the look of the units.


Wednesday, August 7, 2024

Early Italian Wars: More Units and Final Army


The refurbishment/expansion of my Late Medieval/Early Renaissance army for the Holy Roman Empire is now complete. 

First up is another commander flying the Hanseatic League banner, which is also the coat of arms of the lead Hanseatic city of Lübeck.  The figures are plastics from Perry's War of the Roses line. 

Wargaming Early Italian Wars: 28mm Perry miniatures Hanseatic Command

More mounted knights in plastic from Perry. While the overall combined height of horse and rider is similar to my Front Rank knights, the riders are much smaller and the overall bulk is less. Having both units on the table looks fine, but I wouldn't mix figures into one unit.

Wargaming Early Italian Wars: 28mm Perry miniatures mounted knights

A supply cart from Front Rank.

Wargaming Early Italian Wars: 28mm Front Rank miniatures War of the Roses supply cart

Early Landsknecht pikemen from The Assault Group. I only needed 30 for my pike block, so used the other two as another command unit. Size-wise, they are around the same height as Old Glory and only slightly smaller than Perry.

Wargaming Early Italian Wars: 28mm The Assault Group (TAG) miniatures landsknecht pikemen

Wargaming Early Italian Wars: 28mm The Assault Group (TAG) miniatures landsknecht Holy Roman Empire command

Old Glory miniatures arquebusiers painted in the colors of Münster.

Wargaming Early Italian Wars: 28mm Old Glory miniatures arquebusiers from Münster

A mix of Old Glory and Perry plastic arquebusiers from Kiel. The Perry figures are a little taller and more slender than the Old Glory figures, but I think the variety of poses allows them to mix well enough in this unit.

Wargaming Early Italian Wars: 28mm Old Glory and Perry miniatures arquebusiers from Kiel

Perry, Crusader, and Wargames Foundry arbalest crossbowmen from Lübeck. The Perry and Crusader miniatures are sculpted in a very similar size and style and blend in quite well.  The older Foundry figures, while nice, run on the smaller side, so you'll have to be a bit more careful with how you mix them in. 

Wargaming Early Italian Wars: 28mm Perry, Crusader and Wargames Foundry miniatures arbalest crossbowmen from Lübeck

And with that my army is now complete. It was fun to revisit a project I started nearly 20 years ago for Warhammer Ancient Battles and I am really happy they are now getting time on the table with my Hail Caesar group after so long in storage. So far they have managed to beat the Hussites and Hungarians in two close battles, but we'll see if their luck continues to hold.

Wargaming Early Italian Wars: 28mm miniature Holy Roman Empire (HRE) army for Hail Caesar and Warhammer Ancient Battles

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Early Italian Wars: More Command, Pikemen and Artillery

I'm back with more figures for my Holy Roman Empire army for the early Italian Wars.

For some reason my phone camera had issues capturing the appearance of the flags on the command stands with my normal photography setup; to give a more accurate assessment, I've also shot the figures against a white background under normal lighting. 

Command Stand 1: Count of Württenberg with the Reichssturmfahne. Figures by Front Rank.

Count of Württenberg with the Reichssturmfahne. Figures by Front Rank.

Count of Württenberg with the Reichssturmfahne. Figures by Front Rank.

Command Stand 2:  Elector of Saxony with the Reichsrennfahne. Figures by Front Rank.

Elector of Saxony with the Reichsrennfahne. Figures by Front Rank.

Elector of Saxony with the Reichsrennfahne. Figures by Front Rank.

Pikemen from Hamburg. Figures from Perry (plastic) and Crusader Miniatures.

Pikemen from Hamburg. Figures from Perry (plastic) and Crusader Miniatures.

Medieval Artillery. Figures and large cannon from Front Rank, small cannons from Old Glory.

Medieval Artillery. Figures and large cannon from Front Rank, small cannons from Old Glory.

Medieval Artillery. Figures and large cannon from Front Rank, small cannons from Old Glory.

Medieval Artillery. Figures and large cannon from Front Rank, small cannons from Old Glory.

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Early Italian Wars: More Refurbished Holy Roman Empire Units

The refurbishment of my Holy Roman Empire (HRE) late medieval army continues. As with the previous units, each one (except the knights) is themed around a particular northern German city, generally affiliated with the Hanseatic League

Army General from Lübeck. Figures by Front Rank.

28mm Front Rank War of the Roses miniatures for the early Italian Wars: Hanseatic General

Knights. Figures by Front Rank.
28mm Front Rank War of the Roses miniatures for the early Italian Wars: Knights

28mm Front Rank War of the Roses miniatures for the early Italian Wars: Knights

Light Cavalry from Dortmund. Figures by Front Rank.
28mm Front Rank War of the Roses miniatures for the early Italian Wars: City of Dortmund

Light Cavalry from Bremen. Figures by Front Rank.
28mm Front Rank War of the Roses miniatures for the early Italian Wars: City of Bremen

Spearmen/Billmen from Nordhorn.  Figures by Old Glory with a Mirliton hero.
28mm Old Glory- and Mirliton miniatures for the early Italian Wars: City of Nordhorn

Pikemen from Köln (Cologne).  Figures by Old Glory.
28mm Old Glory miniatures for the early Italian Wars: City of Köln (Cologne)


Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Early Italian Wars: Refurbished Holy Roman Empire Army


After almost a year of working on Carthaginians, I felt it was time for a break.  However, it is still another refurbishment project. 

Around 20 years ago I built a Warhammer Ancients Battles (WAB) Holy Roman Empire army for the late medieval/early Italian Wars period.  Having briefly lived in northwestern Germany, I opted to base the units around cities I visited, with the Hanseatic League rising as an overarching theme.  Now that Hail Caesar has expanded into that era and I have a local opponent, I thought it was time to pull my figures out of storage and get them back on the table. 

When I first painted this army, the only paints I had access to were were Citadel, which had more vibrant colors appropriate for Fantasy and Sci Fi armies. I also made the artistic decision at the time to really have distinct color schemes for each unit's clothing based around the city flags. While I would do it differently today, I've opted not to repaint everything and instead just add some additional highlighting and washes as needed.  Instead the primary focus will be on upgrading the basing and completing they unfinished figures I've had squirreled away (painted to match the old style).

Back at the time, the only basing material I had access to was some Woodland Scenics flock and a bit of grass I could cut into tufts. While it looked fine in its day, it doesn't really pop on today's tables. 

28mm Old Glory Italian War Miniatures prior to refurbishment

For the refurbishment, I've scraped off the old flock, and added a layer of Vallejo Diorama FX brown earth with Woodland Scenics brown ballast and some grey rock.  This then received a sprinkling of Army Painter field grass and appropriate tufts from Army Painter and Gamers Grass.  As seen below, it really made a huge difference in appearances.

28mm Old Glory Italian War Miniatures being refurbished

The army was originally built using Old Glory Italian Wars miniatures for the infantry. This is actually one of their better lines and while not quite up to today's standards, still look reasonably good on the table. These have since been supplemented with some Mirliton fantasy miniatures, and War of the Roses miniatures from Perry, Crusader, and Foundry.  

Spearmen/Billmen from Cloppenburg. Old Glory with two Mirliton fantasy heroes.

28mm Old Glory and Mirliton miniatures for the early Italian Wars: City of Cloppenburg

Halberdiers from Hanover. Old Glory with one Mirliton fantasy hero.

28mm Old Glory and Mirliton miniatures for the early Italian Wars: City of Hanover

Arquebusiers with pavises from Osnabrück. Old Glory with one plastic Perry figure.

28mm Old Glory and Perry miniatures for the early Italian Wars: City of Osnabrück

Crossbowmen with pavises from Oldenburg. This is a new unit made from Perry plastics, and figures from Crusader and Foundry.

28mm Perry, Crusader, and Foundry miniatures for the early Italian Wars: City of Oldenburg


I still have more units to either refurbish or start as new, but I'm happy with how things are progressing and am looking forward to getting this army back on the table after so long.

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

Punic Wars: Gallic and Italian Cavalry

 The refurbishment of my old Carthaginian army is starting to wind down, with just a few units remaining. I obtained some second hand cavalry years ago that has just been sitting in bags, and thought it was time to finally paint them up and get the on the table.

First up are some Gallic cavalry that look to be from Foundry. I didn't have shields for all the figures, so had to use some from the bits box.  They are really well sculpted and I think they'll look great on the table.

28mm Wargames Foundry Gallic Cavalry miniatures

28mm Wargames Foundry Gallic Cavalry miniatures

28mm Wargames Foundry Gallic Cavalry miniatures

28mm Wargames Foundry Gallic Cavalry miniatures

28mm Wargames Foundry Gallic Cavalry miniatures

Next up are some Italian cavalry from Old Glory. These were mixed in with a lot of other figures, but I believe they are the Ligurian pack, with perhaps some hill tribe figures included as well (half the figures had sculpted saddle blankets while the other did not, so it makes me suspicious that they aren't a single pack).  The horses supplied also seemed to be a mix of sculpting styles, so I'm not sure they are all the correct ones for these riders. But I got these for free as part of another deal, so am not going to complain and I think the end result looks good enough.

28mm Old Glory Italian/Ligurian Cavalry miniatures

28mm Old Glory Italian/Ligurian Cavalry miniatures

28mm Old Glory Italian/Ligurian Cavalry miniatures

28mm Old Glory Italian/Ligurian Cavalry miniatures

28mm Old Glory Italian/Ligurian Cavalry miniatures


At this stage, I've been working almost exclusively on Punic Wars for the last year (300+ figures either refurbished or newly painted) and am feeling a bit burnt out.  Since I now have more than enough done for a good size game of Hail Caesar, I've decide to pause work on this for a bit and focus on another army refurbishment project that I'll be starting this month.  






Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Punic Wars: Commanders and Gallic Warbands


The work on expanding my Carthaginian army continues. As Hail Caesar uses more command stands than WAB, I’ve created two more from some Crusader Miniatures infantry command stands. They are very well sculpted and cast, and fit nicely with the A&A figures I have in my army (which isn’t a huge surprise since it’s the same sculptor).  Since the Carthaginian army was a mix of peoples, I’ve opted to go with one Carthaginian commander and one Apulian Italian commander. While I don’t have any Apulian units in my army, my hope is that they look generically Italian enough that won’t look out of placing leading a mix of Oscans, Ligurians, and Italian hill tribes. The shields were done using transfers from Little Big Man Studios.

28mm Carthaginian and  Apulian Italian Punic Wars command miniatures for Hail Caesar and Warhammer Ancients from Crusader Miniatures

28mm Carthaginian and  Apulian Italian Punic Wars command miniatures for Hail Caesar and Warhammer Ancients from Crusader Miniatures

My initial Gallic warband from 20 years ago was made from Foundry figures, with Black Tree command, and a lone 1st Corps figure (known as ‘Shorty Bob” due to his stature when compared to the other lines).  I bought the Foundry figures second hand and they came without shields, so I had to order replacements from Old Glory. Since then, I went on to pick up some Renegade and Gripping Beast over the years. There are some size differences between the various brands (The Renegades are big guys with swords the size of cricket bats), but I’ve done my best to mix everything together.  Overall, I think the dynamic poses help hide the differences in a warband, so I don’t think it’s too glaring. For the shields, I’ve mixed everything up and replaced some with additional Old Glory shields, allowing me to use LBM transfers in additional to the original decals from Veni Vidi Vici.

Warband 1:

28mm Punic Wars Gallic Warband for Hail Caesar and Warhammer Ancients from Foundry, A&A, Renegade, Gripping Beast, and Black Tree Miniatures

28mm Punic Wars Gallic Warband for Hail Caesar and Warhammer Ancients from Foundry, A&A, Renegade, Gripping Beast, and Black Tree Miniatures

28mm Punic Wars Gallic Warband for Hail Caesar and Warhammer Ancients from Foundry, A&A, Renegade, Gripping Beast, and Black Tree Miniatures

28mm Punic Wars Gallic Warband for Hail Caesar and Warhammer Ancients from Foundry, A&A, Renegade, Gripping Beast, and Black Tree Miniatures

28mm Punic Wars Gallic Warband for Hail Caesar and Warhammer Ancients from Foundry, A&A, Renegade, Gripping Beast, and Black Tree Miniatures

Warband 2:

28mm Punic Wars Gallic Warband for Hail Caesar and Warhammer Ancients from Foundry, A&A, Renegade, Gripping Beast, and Black Tree Miniatures

28mm Punic Wars Gallic Warband for Hail Caesar and Warhammer Ancients from Foundry, A&A, Renegade, Gripping Beast, and Black Tree Miniatures

28mm Punic Wars Gallic Warband for Hail Caesar and Warhammer Ancients from Foundry, A&A, Renegade, Gripping Beast, and Black Tree Miniatures

28mm Punic Wars Gallic Warband for Hail Caesar and Warhammer Ancients from Foundry, A&A, Renegade, Gripping Beast, and Black Tree Miniatures

28mm Punic Wars Gallic Warband for Hail Caesar and Warhammer Ancients from Foundry, A&A, Renegade, Gripping Beast, and Black Tree Miniatures